Laundry-tongs



(No Model.)

NN m, Y Mn .,.N m

Patented Oct, 10, 1893.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS EAGAN, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

LAUNDRY-TONGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 506,479, dated October 10, 1893.

Application filed May 8, 1893.

v To all'whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS EAGAN, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented new and Improved Laundry-Tongs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in laundry tongs; and the object of myinvention is to produce extremely cheap, simple, durable, and convenient tongs, which may be made to answer the purpose of an ordinary clothes stick, which are adapted to be dipped into a boiler of hot water so as to pick out various articles therein and which are constructed in such a way that they may be made to grasp very small articles, such for instance as acollar-button, collar, or other small thing, and which also are sufficiently strong to lift larger articles.

To this end my invention consists of laundry tongs, the construction of which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the views.

Figure 21 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the tongs embodying my invention; and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section on the line 2-2 in Fig. 1.

The tongs 10 are shaped substantially like the ordinary tongs and comprises two oppositely arranged and similar members 11 which are preferably of wood, although any suitable material may be used in their construction, and these members terminate at their free ends in jaws 12 which have flat opposing faces, so that when pressed together they will fit closely so as to enable any minute article to be picked up between their points. The members 11 are near one end mortised on their inner sides, as shown at 13, andin these mortises is held a ring '14, while projecting A through the mortises transversely are pins 15,

these being placed within the ring, as shown clearly in Fig.1, so that the ring will be held Serial No. 473,399. (No model.)

' ceive the ring, the ring bears against the side walls of the mortises and prevents the tong members from moving laterally, so that when the members are forced together, the faces of the jaws 12 register accurately and thus any articles picked up by the jaws may be conveniently grasped and consequently held.

On the lower portion of the ring 14 between the members 11 is a spring 16 which normally presses the jaws apart, but the spring is sufficiently elastic to permit it to be compressed by grasping the members 11 in the hand,s'othat the jaws 12 may be conveniently forced together. The spring 16 has also sufficient strength to hold the jaws 12 apart, so that thetongs may be easily applied to any articles to be raised.

The ring 14 may be made in the form of a wheel, without affecting the principle of the invention; that is, it may have a solid central portion so long as room is left for the play of the ring on the pins 15, and it is provided with an opening for thespring.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- Aclothes tongs comprising two members mortised in their adjacent faces, an interposed ring entering said mortises and having a spring coiled upon its lower portion between the said two members and transverse pins crossing the mortises and extending through the bore of the ring at opposite sides thereof, substantially as set forth.

THOMAS EAGAN.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM L. GREEN, RICHARD H. TYNER. 

